London Resort developer accused of providing ‘insufficient’ information on traffic impact
The scheme targeted for the Swanscombe peninsula (pic LRHC)
The developer behind the proposed London Resort theme park has been accused of failing to provide enough information about the impact of increased traffic on road and rail in north Kent and London.
In damning submissions from leading transport organisations to the Planning Inspectorate, it is suggested that transport infrastructure could be overwhelmed by traffic from the development, on the Swanscombe peninsula.
Highways England says there has been “insufficient information” to allow conclusive statements on traffic impact, citing junctions 2 and 30 of the M25, the A13/A1089 junction and the A2/M2 east of the M25 as potential problem spots.
Transport for London, meanwhile, has slammed London Resort Holding Company’s lack of an “appropriate assessment methodology”, saying it could mask “significant impacts that must be mitigated”.
It said: “The failure to use appropriate modelling means that impacts on the rail and Underground network have not been assessed with any degree of certainty.
“The arbitrary assumptions about the scale of traffic that will use the north Kent lines risks ignoring potential impacts at their central London termini and on interchange flows at Abbey Wood (to the Elizabeth line).”
It also warned that the development could cause congestion on north Kent roads and lead to problems at east London road tunnels.
For its part, Network Rail was concerned about impact on stations close to the planned development as well as the effect on the Ebbsfleet Southern Link and HS1.
As if all that were not enough, the C2E Partnership feared that the scheme could take up land earmarked for a potential Crossrail extension to Ebbsfleet.
A list of Relevant Representations was published on Planning Inspectorate website in April after its deadline for comments had passed.